Transcriptional response to copper excess and identification of genes involved in heavy metal tolerance in the extremophilic microalga Chlamydomonas acidophila

High concentrations of heavy metals are typical of acidic environments. Therefore, studies on acidophilic organisms in their natural environments improve our understanding on the evolution of heavy metal tolerance and detoxification in plants. Here we sequenced the transcriptome of the extremophilic microalga Chlamydomonas acidophila cultivated in control conditions and with 500 μM of copper for 24 h. High-throughput 454 sequencing was followed by de novo transcriptome assembly. The reference transcriptome was annotated and genes related to heavy metal tolerance and abiotic stress were identified. Analyses of differentially expressed transcripts were used to detect genes involved in metabolic pathways related to abiotic stress tolerance, focusing on effects caused by increased levels of copper. Both transcriptomic data and observations from PAM fluorometry analysis suggested that the photosynthetic activity of C. acidophila is not adversely affected by addition of high amounts of copper. Up-regulated transcripts include several transcripts related to photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism, transcripts coding for general stress response, and a transcript annotated as homologous to the oil-body-associated protein HOGP coding gene. The first de novo assembly of C. acidophila significantly increases transcriptomic data available on extremophiles and green algae and thus provides an important reference for further molecular genetic studies. The differences between differentially expressed transcripts detected in our study suggest that the response to heavy metal exposure in C. acidophila is different from other studied green algae.